Empire of the Kop
·28 September 2024
Empire of the Kop
·28 September 2024
Neil Mellor has praised one member of Liverpool’s under-21 side as being ‘far too good’ for underage level, having witnessed him in action on Friday night.
The young Reds swept aside their Arsenal counterparts 3-0 in Premier League 2, with the second of those goals coming from Tyler Morton just two days after he featured for Arne Slot’s first-team in the Carabao Cup against West Ham.
Taking to X after the under-21 match last night, Mellor singled out the midfielder’s performance and insisted that he’s now outgrown the underage ranks.
The ex-Liverpool striker proclaimed: “Great team performance from the U21s tonight. Deserved win. Tyler Morton showing [he’s] far too good for this level with a superb attitude and performance.”
Morton is by far the most experienced of the Liverpool under-21s’ starting line-up from last night, having already played 10 times for the Reds’ first team and accrued 97 senior appearances in club football (Transfermarkt).
He turns 22 in just over a month’s time, making him older than Harvey Elliott and only five months the junior of Ryan Gravenberch, which in context would suggest that the ex-Hull loanee should now be ready to permanently move on from the underage scene.
The manner in which he won the ball with an immaculate tackle and surged almost half the length of the pitch to instigate the move which led to his goal against Arsenal may well strike a chord with Slot and convince the first-team boss to hand him a few more appearances over the coming months.
However, whether Morton can ever truly establish himself at Liverpool remains to be seen, and 2025 will feel like a pivotal year in his career. Does he keep the faith and seek to make a lasting breakthrough at Anfield, or will he leave in order to lay down roots at a club where he’s likelier to play regularly?
The answer to that question will ultimately be up to him, but for now, all he can do is continue standing out for the under-21s in the hope of earning senior game-time and duly make the most of any first-team minutes that he’s handed.